Bruins Buy or Sell: Maple Leafs, Trade Deadline, Lohrei & Sweeney
Since the All-Star Break, things have not gone well for the Boston Bruins . They have fallen behind the Florida Panthers in the Atlantic Division and they look nothing like the team they were earlier in the season. This week, the last chance for General Manager (GM) Don Sweeney to add to his team is on March 8 with the NHL trade deadline. This season, his club needs multiple upgrades and additions and it’s unlikely he will be able to address all of them. It’s even questionable whether or not he will be able to address some of them.
Boston is slumping and right now, second-year head coach Jim Montgomery is looking for answers and it’s hard to find some. They have a brutal schedule heading into the trade deadline this week and very few options to find some answers right now. As the Bruins enter a crucial week, it’s time for the latest Bruins Buy or Sell, where it’s time to take a look at whether to buy or sell some of the Bruins’ recent storylines or rumors.
Maple Leafs Gaining on Bruins
Yes, the Bruins are just two points behind the Panthers, but with the roll they are on and the struggles the Black and Gold are going through, you get the feeling that Florida might pull away from them. If that’s the case, the Toronto Maple Leafs are behind Boston in the standings, six points back, but two games in hand.
Toronto is coming and coming fast. They have won nine of their last 10 games and get two shots at the Bruins this week. After hosting them Monday night (March 4), they come to the TD Garden on March 7, the night before the trade deadline. Two regulation wins by the Maple Leafs this week brings them even closer and with two games in hand, it’s not out of the possibility that they pass their rivals before the playoffs start. Right now, it’s hard not to buy that they will pass Boston, but that’s just one person’s opinion. As things stand, if I’m in Toronto, I would be looking forward to a potential first-round match-up with the Bruins.
Don Sweeney Makes a Trade Deadline Addition
There are a couple of reasons why this is a very interesting scenario for Sweeney and the Bruins front office. First, they are limited on cap space and if they add, likely a roster player or two would have to go out. Second, Boston’s GM does not have assets that teams are going to be lining up for unless some of their top prospects (Matthew Poitras, Mason Lohrei, Fabian Lysell) are going to become available. Out of that group, if anyone is made available, you would think it would be Lysell, but anything is possible.
Of course, instead of swinging big like he did last trade deadline, Sweeney could make minor tweaks to the roster and ship out some mid-round draft picks, something they don’t have an abundance of. The next first-round pick Boston has is 2025 and I find it very difficult to see them use it in a deal in the next week. Minor deals are more likely by the deadline this season, but anything is possible with Sweeney. A lower-body injury to Pavel Zacha against the New York Islanders on March 2 might play into the thinking of the front office this week.
Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort & Matt Grzelcyk
Speaking of the trade deadline, if current roster players are going to be moved, Jake DeBrusk, Derek Forbort, and Matt Grzelcyk are the likely candidates. All three will be free agents following the season and it’s hard to see Forbort or Grzelcyk coming back. DeBrusk? Who knows what Sweeney’s thinking is, but if both the player and team were interested in him returning next season, an extension would have been done by now.
All three players have been average to date this season and their trade value is not as high as it has been in the past, say last summer. Moving out any of them opens up $3-4 million in cap space depending on the player moved if there isn’t one coming back in return.
Mason Lohrei
Lohrei has been up the last couple of weeks for the Bruins since Hampus Lindholm went down with a lower-body injury on Feb. 19 against the Dallas Stars. The former Ohio State defenseman played well earlier in the season in Boston and he continued to play well with the Providence Bruins in the American Hockey League (AHL). In his six games since being called up, he has a goal, a game-winner in the third period against the Vegas Golden Knights on Feb. 29, and three assists in his first game on Feb. 21 against the Edmonton Oilers.
Lindholm has started on-ice workouts recently and his return is still up in the air, but Montgomery will be faced with a decision when Lindholm returns, what to do with Lohrei? If Grzelcyk or Forbort is traded, the decision is easy, he stays. If not, sending him down will be a tough decision. Letting him play out the season and playoffs in Boston might be the best decision to let him gain confidence for the future and you live with the mistakes he makes. The Bruins need his offensive skills and playing in all situations.
This is a big week for the Bruins in terms of setting themselves up for the rest of the regular season and playoffs. Sweeney has some big decisions that are not going to be made lightly, but some of those decisions could be the difference in winning a first-round series or being sent packing again before the calendar turns to May.
